Sunday, February 25 2007

Who Does Salah Represent?

Vered Livine slams the way the Israeli media rushes to quote Raed Salah (pictured) and his fiery criticisms of the Mughrabi Gate excavations. Her comments could apply to the Western news services too. She writes in YNet News:

However, Sheikh Salah is not the Arab community’s mouthpiece in Israel; he represents one branch in one movement that itself does not boast one unified voice.

Yet despite this, in recent weeks the sheikh seemed like the only spokesperson on behalf of Arabs in Israel. Without looking into the question of the government’s conduct in the matter of the Mugrabi Gate construction, an average newspaper reader and television viewer could have easily believed that 1,200,000 people were standing behind Salah and were only an order away from an all-out strike at the country. In practice, no mass demonstrations took place and the majority of the Israeli Arab community did not follow his harsh calls….

If there is a rise in Raed Salah’s popularity among Arabs in Israel and abroad, he should also be thanking the Israeli media (and leadership) for their conduct.

Posted at
09:13 AM

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